What we're doing to prevent Gillian's nightmares

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I mentioned in a previous post that Gillian has pretty wild nightmares these days. The child development gurus say that it's pretty common for kids at this age to freak themselves out in any mental state, conscious or unconscious because of their burgeoning imaginations. So, to help her frame of mind when she's going to sleep, I have been talking to her about our "dream dates" before bed. We let our imaginations run wild with all the awesome things we are going to do when we meet up in our dreams that night. Last night, for example, the last thing we discussed was our trip to the moon and the sun (this trip was all Gillian's idea). To get there, we would start by climbing up to the top of a tall tree then jump really high to the lowest cloud, then we would trampoline from cloud to cloud till we were in outer space. At that point, we would fill our bags with stars until it was sparkling and go to the moon for cookies and the sun for lemonade. On the way back, we slid down rainbows (making sure to collect those for Rainbow Juice) bounced on some more clouds, and then brought the stars and rainbows back in our rooms to decorate the ceiling and walls. This morning I asked her which part was her favorite. She said the decorating though "the rainbow slides and cloud jumping weren't bad". She also liked the picnic on the moon.

Since I have started this dream date planning, she hasn't come in here freaking out about nightmares. It's only been a week, but still. Hope it keeps working! Even if it doesn't, we are having a grand time with our grandiose storytelling.